What Dublin doesn’t have in size, it more than makes up for in personality. Ask anyone who’s visited the ‘Fair City’ and they’ll have one or two tales to tell about the legendary charm of Dublin. This September, Dublin is set to host a range of exciting events that provide the perfect opportunity to experience the city‘s unique character.
Of these events the one grabbing most of the headlines is the Dublin Fringe Festival. Picking up where Edinburgh left off, The Fringe is Ireland’s showcase of visual and performance arts played out at established and makeshift venues throughout Dublin in September.
The Dublin Fringe brings just over 2 weeks of entertainment with a wide ranging programme encompassing theatre, dance, music and visual arts played out at some very strange places - if you were expecting to be seated comfortably, think again!
The range of venues for the 100 or so shows and spectacles of the Fringe include a crypt, a pub, a disused school, a warehouse, a giant tent, the Unitarian Church on St Stephen’s Green and even a hotel room, as well as the more established venues of Dublin’s Theatres, art galleries and parks.
Year on year the Fringe boasts bigger and bolder programme of events, withworldwide acts from the worlds of thearte, dance, music, comedy, visual arts and film come together in one unique festival in Ireland's capital city.
Dublin is one of the friendliest and most popular capital cities in the world. It is also one of the cleanest and most attractive, while Dublin’s compact nature and comprehensive public transport system, the Luas tram, make it one of the easiest to get around.
People come from all over the world to sample the craic of Dublin’s street life, from the buzz of Grafton Street, where you’ll find buskers, exclusive shops and Molly Malone selling her cockles and mussels, to the historic buildings of O’Connell Street and the lively entertainments of Temple Bar.
There are many tours of Dublin organised by the Dublin Tourist Office which will show you a different side to the city’s character. For those interested in Dublin’s heritage, the Historical Walking Tour presents a two hour ‘seminar on the streets’ exploring the main events in Irish history, from the Potato Famine, the 1916 Rising, the War of Independence and Ireland’s partition, and is hosted by history graduates from Trinity College. The tour passes by Trinity College, Old Parliament House, Temple Bar, City Hall, Dublin Castle and the Four Courts, along the way.
If you’re more interested in experiencing the ‘craic’ of Dublin, you could try the Traditional Irish Musical Pub Crawl. This tour is led by two professional musicians, who tell the story of Irish music, while playing a few tunes along the way. On the tour you’ll visit some of Dublin’s oldest and most famous pubs and the tour runs every night from May to October and just Friday and Saturday nights in November, February, March and April.
For literary buffs the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl is a fun and entertaining pub-crawl led by two actors performing various scenes in pubs with literary connections. Stop for a drink in each pub, but remember there’ll be questions at the end of the tour with a fun-filled quiz.
Whatever time of year you’re planning on visiting Dublin, you’ll find something going on which give you the perfect excuse for returning!
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